fk05-27-97 From: [email protected] (Francis Keys)
Subject: Tournament Report for North Regionals in Minneapolis
Date: Tue, 27 May 1997 20:32:24 GMT

The Crew arrived late on Thursday evening, some time around 10:30. Sam, Ron, Max, and I have been talking about decks for weeks. I have a dozen T2 decks and they bring easily twice as many more. Naturally, we forego further testing and have a couple drinks. After several adventures, we finally crash about six.

We're up and testing early. Ron and Max work on an Atog deck with Ankhs, Howlers, Winter Orbs, and Army Ants, but it doesn't go anywhere. When Melissa shows up, we head out to dinner and a local T2 tourney where Ron takes second and my deck collapses. I'm not feeling confident about this. Pizza, pickle juice, and a 5E/VI draft finish off our Friday evening.

After playing a few games on Saturday, we head to the Mall of America to window shop, people watch, and get something to eat. We threaten the giant Snoopy, but fail to carry out our plots. More pizza and more drafting eventually fade to sleep.

I'm up early and into the shower first on Sunday. I'm feeling pretty focused. I drop a couple Sand Golems into my sideboard but leave the rest of my deck untouched. Here's the counterburn deck that I'll be playing:

"Counterburn" by Francis Keys

 
4 Quicksand
10 Island
8 Mountain
4 Thawing Glaciers
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
3 Frenetic Efreet
3 Counterspell
3 Dissipate
4 Force of Will
2 Binding Grasp

3 Pillage
4 Incinerate
2 Hammer of Bogardan
        
Sideboard:
2 Sand Golem
2 Binding Grasp
3 Hydroblast
4 Pyroblast

2 Pyrokinesis
2 Earthquake
3 Disintegrate
        
Sideboard:
1 Primitive Justice
1 Pillage
1 Pyrokinesis
1 Earthquake

We're worried about getting to the tournament on time because we were too late for the last New York PTQ in Chicago, but we get there with time to spare and fill out our deck lists. Besides the Crew coming up from Chicago, several of Iowa's better players are also in Minneapolis. Sam, Max, and Ron are all playing Sligh, and Melissa is playing a variant of my deck with Snake Basket and Jester's Cap. I expect a boatload of weenie decks and from the look of things, I'm not far off. Attendance is at 120 and we're ready to play.

I don't start off lucky. My first opponent is Sam. With seven rounds of Swiss, we can't afford to draw in the first round, so we have to play. In testing, whoever goes first wins. I ask, "Ready to roll for the win?" and he wins the roll. Somehow I pull out the first game and he wins the second. In the third, I counter his eight-point disintegrate and cast my own next turn. 1-0 matches, 2-1 games.

After the first round, the tournament organizers announce that we'll be playing to final 16 instead of final 8. This doesn't agree with the Wizards of the Coast Web site and I inform the head judge, but he assures me that the decision is within the organizers' discression.

My second opponent wanted to play rules lawyer. He succeeded at being an asshole, but he was a bad player. He'd say things like, "Now we're back in my main phase," when I started to thaw, so we had to play the "during your discard phase" game. Even after seeing Pyrokinesis, Earthquake, and Nevinyrral's Disk, he continued to play several creatures at once. His deck was blue and green, with Rainbow Efreet, Sibilant Spirit, Pygmy Hippo, Air Elemental, mana creatures and counters, but no Dissipate. After losing the first game to a major mana wash of twelve land in fifteen cards, I Hammered him down and Disintegrated him to death twice in a row. 2-0 matches, 4-2 games.

Now I face Gary Lewis, a friendly local player whose son Sam also plays. Gary is playing fast mono-red with Suq'Ata Lancers, Viashino Sandstalkers, Fireblasts, and Kaervek's Torch. I take control in the first game and Disintegrate him and he burns me to death in the second. After seven intense turns of fire, I'm at 1 and he's at three. Our hands are empty and we're playing off the tops of our decks. He pulls land. I get my hammer back. He pulls--a diamond. He fries. 3-0 matches, 6-3 games.

Time for a little Magic lesson. I don't remember my next opponent's name, but he's playing a wild white, green and black big creature geddon deck. During our first game, I get to Disintegrate two Ivory Gargoyles and earthquake his Maro and Wall of Roots, putting him at three. I can't remember if I've played a land that turn, and I ask him. He says he isn't sure. I have an untapped island, a mountain and incinerate in hand. He's an extremely gracious and competent opponent, and I don't want to cheat him. I say go. He Fireballs me to death. In the second game, I get two mana before I die. 3-1 matches, 6-5 games.

My next match leaves me baffled. I trade fire with an outlandish mono-red deck packing Lightning Cloud, Emberwilde Djinn and Elkin Lair! He's a somewhat sloppy player and does things like forget upkeep on the Djinn and Grinning Totem for my Hammer, and I win two of the three fiery games. 4-1 matches, 8-6 gamse.

Now I face Derek Muthart, another local player with Matt Place's five color mono-green deck. He's playing one of the early versions with Vampiric Tutor and without a full set of blasts in the sideboard. I've been running into this deck repeatedly in Apprentice pickup games and I've even won a couple games playing against Matt Place himself, but my deck deserts me. In two games, Derek gets more counters than I do, gets off the geddon, and I lose quickly. 4-2 matches, 8-8 games. I figure I'm out.

I decide to play it out and face Eric and his mono-green deck with a Sligh mana curve. I grasp his Armored Elvish Archers and beat him down in the first game, then hammer him in the second game with a Disintegrate finish. 5-2 matches, 10-8 games.

Somehow, my tiebreakers land me at the top of the 5-2 group and I make the cut to final 16. I'm surprised but then anxious as we realize I have to play Max in the round of 16. One of us is going to Nationals and one of us isn't going to make it. Sam and Ron also make the cut to final 16. Melissa dropped somewhere around the fourth round and has been playing booster draft. My deck is the only control deck in the final sixteen full of big blue, weenies, and burn.

Max wins the roll and goes first. In my best game of the day, Max and I engage a furious and flawless battle of creatures, burn, and counters. I pull Quicksand in the clutch, allowing me to tap out to hammer him and protect myself from his Viashino Sandstalker. I kill him while I'm at two. I'm one game from Nationals.

In the second game, I draw far too much land and Max eventually rolls over me with creatures and burn. Shuffle. Draw. I have one mountain in my opening hand. I play it. On my second turn I draw and island and play it. I have two Dissipate, a Binding Grasp, a Hammer, a Disk, and a Disintegrate in my hand. My third turn. No land. He starts to attack. Fourth turn. No land. Heavy damage. Fifth turn. I can still recover with a colored land. No. Sixth turn. Last chance. I pull a Quicksand. Max can inflict two or three times my life total with the cards he has in play and in hand. I go down.

5-3 matches, 11-10 games. It's been a rough day. I feared mono-red and black with heavy discard the most. Didn't see black, beat mono-red 3-1, and lost to the mana denial decks I never have to worry about with five artifact destruction, three disks, ten counters, and seven pitch spells. This game sure keeps me guessing.

Max gets knocked out in the round of eight, while Sam and Ron both go on to the finals, so they're all headed to Columbus. After practicing together and sharing deck strategies, the four of us lose a total of five matches, with two of the losses to each other. Ron continues an unholy streak to 19-2 in T2. The final eight decks include the three Sligh decks, a five color mono-green played by yap, another mono-green deck with a Sligh mana curve, and a big blue deck.

For prizes, I pull Relentless Assault from my Chinese Visions, Island Sanctuary from Korean 4E, and Reverberation and Underworld Dreams from my Italian Legends pack. We celebrate the Crew's victory with dinner and another draft. Time to start thinking about Pro Tour New York.

Francis Keys

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